Sandy and I got up at 5:30 this morning to go walking. We live in a sub-division that has a nice circle in it. Two laps is almost a full mile, and we try and do at least four laps when we walk.

We’ve agreed that the first lap should be for prayer and meditation. We simply walk in our own thoughts and talk about it later in the walk. This morning Sandy spoke out earlier than usual. She was thinking about how people in the days of old – during times of extreme persecution – could be so firm in their faith/religion. She wondered if it could be that they actually BELIEVED their religious tenets more than we do today.

It got me to thinking about how easily we are “swayed to and fro with every wind of doctrine”. How easily we are “ensnared”. How easily we go from being “full of love” to “full of anger and hatred”.

Think about it:  in the Roman empire, Christians were put in the field and lions were released upon them. If it was at night, many times their children were skewered on long poles and lit a-fire to provide light. And what did they do? They fell on their knees and prayed – giving praise to God, thanking Him that they were about to be seen as worthy to die for Him.

Think of Steven. As stones were flying upon him – slashing his skin and fracturing his skull – he prayed FOR the people who were killing him out of pure hatred because of his belief in Jesus instead of harboring bitterness and anger at the injustice of the moment.

Did these people WANT to die? I don’t think so. But they seriously had something going for them that we lack today. I go from “happy-go-lucky” to “cranky” at the drop of a circumstance.

So the question I pose is this: DO WE REALLY, TRULY BELIEVE what we say we have built our foundation upon? Are we actually living a life that displays the power and love of Christ?

Or should be say that “religion” used to be a set of beliefs that caused its followers to walk a certain way, and that “religion” is now a set of beliefs that people claim, but don’t follow?

Selah